1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate treatment apparatus and a substrate treatment method for treating a substrate. Examples of the substrate to be treated include semiconductor wafers, glass substrates for liquid crystal display devices, substrates for plasma display devices, substrates for FED (Field Emission Display) devices, substrates for optical disks, substrates for magnetic disks, substrates for magneto-optical disks, substrates for photo masks, and substrates for solar cells.
2. Description of Related Art
In a semiconductor device production process, for example, a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer or a glass substrate for a liquid crystal display panel is treated with a chemical agent. For the treatment with the chemical agent, a substrate treatment apparatus of a single substrate treatment type is often used, which is adapted to treat a single substrate at a time. The substrate treatment apparatus of the single substrate treatment type typically includes a treatment chamber having a partition wall defining an internal space thereof, a spin chuck provided in the treatment chamber for generally horizontally holding and rotating the substrate, a chemical agent nozzle for supplying the chemical agent to the substrate, and a nozzle moving mechanism which moves the chemical agent nozzle.
In a polymer removing process for removing a polymer from a front surface of the substrate, for example, a chemical agent having an oxygen concentration sufficiently reduced for prevention of oxidation of wirings formed on the substrate is spouted from the chemical agent nozzle (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 2004-158482). In this case, the atmosphere in the treatment chamber is desirably controlled to be maintained at a lower oxygen concentration level so as to prevent oxygen from dissolving in the treatment liquid spouted from the chemical agent nozzle.
However, the internal space of the treatment chamber is relatively spacious with various components accommodated therein. Therefore, it is difficult to sufficiently control the atmosphere in the treatment chamber.